Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Diana's Delight

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Diana's Delight A twenty-eight bar Reel for four couples in a longwise set. On the second chord third and fourth couples cross to opposite sides. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 16.

1- 2 First and fourth couples cross giving right hands.
3- 4 First couple cast off and fourth couple cast up; second couple step up and third couple step down.
5- 8 First and fourth couples dance left hands across in a wheel to finish facing their corners (the person whom they cast round).
9-12 Half a double reel of four, first and fourth couples pass corners by the right to commence and all give left hands across in a wheel half way as they pass in the centre.
13-14 First and fourth couples change places with corners giving right hand.
15-16 All set.
17-24 Second man and third lady dance out to the ladies' side, whilst second lady and third man dance out to the men's side, then: second couple cast off below first couple to the foot, dance up the middle to the top making an arch, cast off behind fourth couple into second place on opposite side; at the same time third couple cast up above fourth couple to the top, dance down the middle under the arch to the foot, cast up behind first couple into third place on own side.
25-28 First and third couples dance half rights and lefts, second and fourth couples do the same. Finish in the order 2, 4, 1, 3.

Repeat with new top couple. Recommended tune: The Princess Royal Editor's note to the 2026 edition Originally this dance was listed as a Jig, however the recommended music is in Reel time. As John usually wrote dances to match specific tunes, we assume that this was an error in publication and have adapted the description to Reel.

(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)


Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 16, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell. Instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).

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